


Joker's Wild

by TomesByBones



Series: Shumako Week 2019 [2]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Angst, Blood and Violence, Desperation, Drama, F/M, Fluff, Humor, Near Death Experiences, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-18
Updated: 2019-01-18
Packaged: 2019-10-11 22:27:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,258
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17455466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TomesByBones/pseuds/TomesByBones
Summary: Written for Shumako Week 2019 Day 2Theme: Leaders / Power CoupleSometimes Joker gets a little too cocky for his own good, luckily the young strategist of the Phantom Thieves is there to provide back-up when Joker's dangerous assault on the Shadows of Mementos takes a deadly turn.





	Joker's Wild

“It’s your own fault for trying to show off!” Queen’s voice resonated through the black halls of the rest area in Mementos, there was anger there and maybe a hint of fear as well.

Joker had his head down, not looking at her directly as he leaned back against the wall enclosing the small room that served as the Phantom Thieves current haven. He could still feel the aches and pains all throughout his body. Clearly the young leader was ruminating heavily on his choices today.

“Hey Queen, I think that’s enough…” Panther spoke now, looking over at their leader’s distraught face. “He was just trying to keep us safe.” The concern in her voice was touching, but Queen wasn’t going to relent so easily.

“Keep us safe?! How, by nearly getting himself killed?!” Queen swung an arm out, a gesture towards the entire group. “That was foolish Joker! Do you realize what that would do to us if we lost you?! If…” Queen’s voice trailed off as she bit her bottom lip. She was already angry, there was no need to show how scared she had been just a few moments ago as well.

“There were far more shadows than we expected on this floor, it’s like they just popped up outta nowhere. Poof!” Oracle was swinging her feet while looking over at the leather clad strategist of the Phantom Thieves, her arms shooting up to emphasize her point at the last word. “We didn’t have a contingency plan, Joker adapted, besides that whole thing was wicked cool from where I was watching.” She added on while mockingly making motorcycle noises and turning one of her hands in a huge circle. “You were all like _‘Cover me!’_ and I don’t think I’ve ever heard Johanna sound so vicious!” Oracle was grinning childishly after doing her best Queen impersonation but the red eyed female warrior was not amused.

“Because _you_ weren’t on the ground there with us! This isn’t a game Oracle, he could’ve died! He almost did die!” Queen barked at Oracle, which caused the young navigator to jump in her seat slightly. Her youthful smirk replaced by something far darker and serious. Oracle’s eyes didn’t leave the floor for a moment as she thought about the situation seriously. Oracle had known how much danger Joker had been in, but she had also trusted the others to save him. Which they had done, so she didn’t see the need in mulling over the _’What ifs’_ that Queen was throwing in her face. 

Normally Queen was the most well composed member of the Phantom Thieves, but something about seeing their Leader swarmed by Shadows had set her off. What would’ve happened if she hadn’t been able to save him? He’d have died right there and then they’d be left without their leader, and her with another void in her life, this boy was slowly becoming more and more important to her after all. The thought sent chills down her spine. Not at all in the same way she’d been having so much trouble adjusting to on her _fake_ dates with Ren, her _fake_ boyfriend.

“Don’t take your frustration out on her.” Panther chimed in quickly. Her voice was firm but she hadn’t come across as if she was chastising Queen. Her and Queen had slowly started to form a friendship since the latter had awakened to her Persona in Kaneshiro’s palace. In the real-world Panther, or Ann as she was known there, had become somewhat of a barrier for Queen. Keeping her in check whenever she felt as if the brunette needed it. She crossed her legs slowly as she leaned back in her chair. “You know Oracle has limited combat abilities, that’s why she’s our navigator and not in the active party.” Oracle winced a little as Panther reasoned with Queen. The Phantom Thieves had enough muscle though with Skull, Fox, Queen, Panther, Mona and Joker. They didn’t need more combatants, they needed her as their navigator, so she tried not to let her limitations bother her. “This does make me wonder though; Can the Shadows come up with tactics like that? We’ve never seen that before have we?” Panther’s finger tapped her chin lightly as she posed the question to the other members of the Phantom Thieves.

“While they’ve always seemed capable of some minor strategic decision making, we’ve never encountered anything like this.” Fox was the first to speak while the rest of the group tried to pull their thoughts together. He was hard at work on his sketch pad, relying on his memory of the recent battle to guide his pencil as he hastily sketched. He had been inspired by the daring act of bravery from Queen.

“Right, which can only mean that the Shadows are adapting to our battle strategies.” Oracle finished the thought. The navigator stopped swinging her feet for a moment and pointed at Mona. “You, fuzzy-butt, is that possible? Can Shadows get _smarter?”_ Mona gasped at the _pet_ name Oracle had shamefully graced him with.

“Never. Again.” He threatened, his brow furrowing above the huge cartoonish eyes that now stared Oracle down. Oracle for all her intelligence was somewhat oblivious to his stare though, either that or she just didn’t take his posturing seriously, Mona wasn’t sure which it was and it vexed him greatly. Skull was chuckling quietly at the name though and quickly silenced himself as Mona’s gaze shot towards him instead. Giving Mona the reaction he had been seeking from Oracle. That was good enough for now to Mona.

“I’m not entirely sure, I know that the deeper we go the more dangerous they get. We’ve seen how some of these creatures are capable of intelligent thought before in palaces too. Remember in Kaneshiro’s palace? How they had hidden those two key cards we needed in that room with the security system? I suppose it’s entirely plausible that the creatures we encounter here could be smarter than their counterparts on the earlier floors.” Mona pondered if the Shadows of Mementos were similar to those they had found during their palace infiltrations. The creatures _were_ becoming deadlier, but unlike the denizens of the palaces, these monstrosities normally showed no real thought pattern as they stalked the train tracks of Mementos’ bleak halls and rooms.

“For Real?!” Skull popped into the conversation now, his signature phrase loud and clear. “Man, I don’t wanna think about these things getting smarter, they’re already a pain in the ass as is.” Skull was scratching his head, clearly frustrated with the speculation that their foes were becoming more dangerous.

“Soon they’ll be smarter than you!” Mona shot another glare towards skull, a snide tone in his voice as he puffed his chest up at the young blonde male. “If they’re not already that is!” Mona made an inappropriate gesture and huffed at the boy. _‘That’ll teach him to laugh at me.’_ The pint size Metaverse expert mused silently.

“What’d you say CAT?!” Skull held up a fist towards Mona’s cartoonish figure, threatening to pound him if he kept being lippy. Mona’s smug look faded immediately and was replaced by an angry scowl as he took a step towards Skull and shook his fist at him. Oracle quickly stifled a giggle, thinking about how the pair looked like characters from a cartoon she had watched when she was younger. She could imagine the static electricity clashing between them where their eyes met.

“I am NOT A CAT you BONEHEAD!” Mona was practically screaming at Skull at this point and the two began to bicker incessantly. Oracle chanting _‘fight, fight, fight!’_ right behind them.  Joker watched this entire exchange, not saying anything. Normally in the real world he would’ve just let it go, but here he wasn’t Ren Amamiya, the seemingly aloof transfer student. He was Joker, the charismatic leader of the Phantom Thieves, and he’d heard enough.

“That’s quite enough out of you two!” That wasn’t Joker’s voice though, it was Queen’s. “I’ve had enough of you guys derailing our strategy meetings with this pointless bickering, you both need to calm down!” In the real world the girl wasn’t one to lose her temper, at least not often. Here though in the Metaverse she found it incredibly easy to call upon her frustration and anger whenever she needed or wanted. It was large and deep, like a reservoir of untapped rage. Skull and Mona quickly silenced themselves, Oracle as well.

Joker stared at the young brunette, admiring her from a safe distance away. Her uniform hugged her curves perfectly and she had a bad habit of standing with all her weight on one leg, one hand on her hip. It made her figure that much more prominent, and it had been the source of many distractions for the young leader on many an infiltration before today. That wasn't what Joker was admiring currently though, it was the well of passion that Queen kept in check constantly, showing only small bits when she was aggravated or her temper was flaring up usually. He had been one of the few lucky people to see that passion flow through her at other times though, like when she was trying to figure out how to help her friend out of a horrible situation with that host called Tsukasa. They still hadn't figured out how to finally get her away from him fully yet. However Queen, or Makoto as she was known in the real world, had told him a few days ago that she'd had a plan finally. Joker hadn’t realized he was smiling at first but quickly became aware of it once Queen’s eyes landed on him. Her face flushing slightly as she turned her gaze away from his quickly. Joker nodded softly at her as she mouthed a quick but silent apology to him for stepping on his toes with Mona and Skull. He didn't mind though, he enjoyed seeing that fire rise in her whenever she’d let it.

“I think we all need to take five minutes.” Joker finally spoke as he stood up straight and stepped into the group. He was still holding his ribs, Diarama had saved his life and healed the broken bones, but it didn’t erase the pain completely. He was still tender all over. The Thieves all stared at their leader as he spoke, none of them wanted to challenge him over the call for a breather but he continued speaking. “I screwed up. Nobody else. Take five, we’ll discuss this more after we’ve all cooled off.” Panther turned her gaze away from Joker and found herself watching Skull. Oracle pulled herself into her usual gargoyle stance, the young girl was trying to peek over Fox’s shoulder to see what he scribbling out on the sketch pad now. Fox remained in his seat in the rest area next to her and Skull moved to look out over the tracks that lead deeper into Mementos. Muttering curses under his breath about idiotic cats and showing someone who was the real _bonehead_. Mona stood in the rest area silently, a slight feeling of shame overtaking him as he mulled over the words Queen had directed at him and Skull.

“Follow me.” Queen spoke firmly after moving up beside their leader. Joker nodded his head and slowly trudged after her, hands in his pockets, he was going to get it now and he knew it. They moved a short distance away from the rest area, still clearly visible to the rest of the group but just barely out of earshot. They had been doing this a lot lately during meetings, pairing up away from everyone. It had confused the other members of the Phantom Thieves a little but considering Queen’s position as strategist for the team it didn’t seem all _that_ odd. Of course, she’d want to run things by Joker before talking to the group about them. Right?

Joker leaned against the wall behind them and Queen moved to stand in front of him. Her ruby red eyes following his every moment as the young man grimaced in pain with each little movement. She knew from past experience that the stiffness and the dull aches would pass but that they were infinitely annoying all the same. Joker finally seemed to realize that she was staring at him and looked at her through his mask, bangs halfway hiding his eyes.

 “You scared the hell out of me!” Her voice was a whisper when she finally spoke but there was still an enormous amount of emotion behind it. Joker stared at her face, he had expected her to lecture him, to tell him about how dangerous what he had done was, he hadn’t been prepared for Queen to actually make this a personal discussion, but he was pleasantly surprised.

“I’m sorry…” Joker apologized flatly while staring into her eyes, the same shade of crimson as always, but still captivating him with their gaze. He was being honest, he hadn’t meant to frighten her, or to put himself in such a compromising position. Joker shifted his weight onto his left leg and crossed his arms over his chest. Mimicking her posture for a moment, albeit with less appealing hips. As he watched her face form into a tight frown he suddenly felt a small pang of guilt and he stood straight again. His eyes lowered slowly as he started to feel embarrassed.

“Sorry won’t bring you back from the dead.” Queen shuffled her feet as the words came softly. “I’ve lost people that were important to me before, I don’t want to go through that again, not with you.” Normally she’d never have admitted something so personal, at least not this easily, even with her friendship with Ren being as close as it already was. Something about being Queen made it easier to be more honest with her feelings, well most of them at least. Even still, she couldn't bare to look upon his face when she said the words, it was too much for her right now.

“Is that a confession of love I hear?” Joker’s trademark grin had appeared on his lips now, the uncontrollable urge to lighten the mood surfacing as he leaned forward towards her slightly. Queen knew if she let him get rolling that he’d fall into his usual mask of suave witticisms and as much as she normally enjoyed it when he showed that side of himself, now was _not_ the time.

“I’m serious…” She said calmly, not showing Joker that his teasing still had some effect on her, even in Mementos. “If I hadn’t been _able_ to get to you in time, I don’t know what we would’ve done, what I would’ve done.” She brought a hand to her chest instinctively and closed her eyes, painful memories bubbling to the surface causing her voice to crack during the last sentence. Joker could see her eyes beginning to mist behind her slab of a mask and suddenly he felt worse.

“I know, that’s why I’m sorry.” For all of Joker’s charm and wit he knew when it was time to stop the showboating, even if he did have a hard time _actually_ stopping. He slowly reached out and touched Queen’s hand that hung from her side with his fingertips softly, but barely grazing them over her own gloved hand. The spark of electricity that shot through her knuckles was enough to send more shivers through her entire body, different than the one she felt earlier today, more pleasant but still frightening.

 “You’re important to me too.” He spoke softly and steadily. Queen hadn’t expected that and as much as being in the Metaverse made her more comfortable with these kinds of situations, hearing the words still affected her. A light pink dusting her cheeks as she looked back towards her leader, she found herself fighting her natural instinct to jump back and squeak, pulling the needed strength from Johanna to stand there and confidently keep her eyes locked on Joker’s.

“You all are. I’d do anything to protect _you_...” The fluffy haired thief smoothly added as he looked back towards the rest of his team. They were all huddled up in the rest area, talking among themselves, discussing things in their own little groups within the group. She felt a strange longing as his words bounced around in her head, had he meant to emphasize that _“you…”_ that much? She wanted to just hold his hand. Just to feel his touch again for a moment, it was a confusing feeling that she pushed from her mind quickly, she could think about those kinds of things later, much later.

“But you’re our leader, you can’t take risks like that, we NEED you Joker. I---” Queen’s voice trailed off, unable to say the words that hung on her heart. She _knew_ she needed him in her life, but why? She was so confused when it came to this young man. They weren’t really together, but every so often when they were out _‘broadening her horizons’_ the young woman known as both Queen and Makoto could feel something very real growing between them and she often wondered if he felt the same thing. She couldn’t help but look away from him now.

Joker smiled softly, looking more like Ren Amamiya for just a moment. He understood what Queen was trying to convey to him and he wanted to show her he felt the same way, but he didn’t know how right then. He settled for running a hand down her cheek slowly, a single finger resting on the side of her chin and softly nudging her eyes back towards his own. He hadn’t been ready to break the gaze that they had shared.

“I’ll be more careful, promise.” His eyes honed in on hers and held her in place as he finished speaking. Something had changed between the two of them with that promise. Before today they had been pretending to date, trying to help one of Makoto’s friends out of a bad situation, but during their time together a bond had been forged. Something deeper than fake romantic titles and stolen glances at one another during strategy meetings, something more powerful than the goodnight texts they sent one another almost every night after talking privately. They would need to talk about it at some point, but this wasn’t the time or place.

“Thank you.” Queen said sheepishly as Joker released her from his beautiful stare and walked towards the rest area, intent on rejoining the rest of the Thieves. She turned slightly away from the enclosure and looked back towards the escalator stairs leading up to the previous floor. Thinking about what had transpired mere moments ago.

 

* * *

 

 

They had been to that floor before, only once though. It had been the deepest they’d ever gotten in Mementos before now. Today was supposed to be a simple exploration and training mission, with one of Yuuki Mishima’s requests attached if they happened to find the target and the gang had wanted to take care of it before their class trip to Hawaii. The first time they had gotten this far down the floor had housed many powerful Shadows, but nothing they hadn’t faced before, most of them being what looked to be copies of the denizens of Futaba Sakura's and Kaneshiro’s palaces. The problem was that most of the Shadows were blocking a single path, like a barricade. When they first encountered the blockade, they had agreed to fall back and formulate a plan. Queen’s specialty.

It had worked well, until Oracle’s voice had rung through the sky from her Persona Necronomicon that more Shadows were closing in fast. The Thieves had begun to panic when Oracle’s numbers started reaching the thirties, Queen had immediately called for the group to back off then. Panic quickly turned to terror when it passed the forties. There was no way they could’ve handled that many Shadows all at once. As Queen began trying to come up with a counter measure Joker had charged straight into the remaining Shadows that had formed the barricade after yelling for her to get the others to safety. Queen’s mouth had gasped as she watched Joker summon his strongest Persona, The White Rider to cover himself while he charged through the monstrous barricade. The spectral rider firing volley after volley of black arrows into the various demonic forces that appeared when the Shadows’ bodies combusted in a haze of black and red mist. Their true forms being made apparent as Joker closed in on them.

He had always been a bit of a showoff, but this was more desperate, more frantic than she’d ever seen him before. His battle prowess was both incredible and terrifying to watch though, even to Queen. Joker had no formal training in martial arts, no training at all really but the way he moved through the Shadow creatures and twisted his body to avoid their swipes was nothing short of masterful. His speed was blinding as he darted under their attacks and dodged their spells, sinking his dagger into body after body and firing his pistol into the creatures just outside of his range. Those ‘Gun-About’ lessons with the boy Joker called King had been paying off it seemed.

Queen had relayed Joker’s orders to the rest of the team and found that she had agreed with Skull’s assessment of _‘F That!’_ when she saw Joker flip through the air, his flair for the dramatic popping up as he twisted in the air and fired two shots into a Demon Horse’s head while upside down in midair. He truly was a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield. All while The White Rider Persona continuously pushed the white horse covered in protruding eyes through the pack of creatures, leaving them full of black arrows as he raced behind Joker. It appeared as if the Persona was having trouble keeping pace with the devilish rogue. It was then Queen realized how dangerous Joker truly was. Maybe more dangerous than any of the other Thieves, or all of them put together.

He had practically culled the remaining Shadows on his own as the Thieves watched him dispatch the final monster with a flurry of slashes that he finished with a twisting back flip. Skull and Panther cheered triumphantly as Joker landed flawlessly in a crouching kneel, one hand on the ground. As he rose he adjusted his gloves and quietly admired his handiwork with a silent grin. Standing amidst the black mist that hung in the air as the demonic bodies sprawled out all around their leader began to break apart. He looked inhuman there, the hue of his eyes as crimson as Queen’s, another side effect of the Metaverse that they all experienced. For Joker though, that color seemed to suit him almost as naturally as the deep grayish silver of his normal eyes. Queen could feel a cold chill run through her entire body as she stared at the young man in awe. He was incredible.

“INCOMING! GO NOW!” Oracle’s scream filled her comrades ears from above but it was already too late.

Joker had just turned to face his friends when the group of monsters Oracle had warned them about had sprouted from the train tracks under his feet. Surrounding him and cutting him off from the rest of the Phantom Thieves. Joker immediately tried to take a defensive stance, his arms crossed in front of him with his dagger held tightly in a reverse grip. Normally Joker’s grin would show itself in these situations, he relished a challenge after all. This time it was different though, Joker wasn’t smiling as he scanned the various demonic faces that peered at him now. He could feel their rage and hatred directed at him as one of them took a step forward. Queen was panicking so badly that she couldn't hear the scream that forced it's way out of her mouth when a spearhead of ice formed in front of the one Shadow that had stepped forward and crashed into Joker, dissipating The White Rider instantly as he fell to the ground on his backside. Their leader was downed and helpless, trapped in the middle of largest group of Shadows they had ever faced. It was the most tactically advanced plan they had ever seen these beings pull off, almost as if it was _calculated_.

The shouts and cries of the Phantom Thieves reverberated through the hall as the Shadows all took turns rushing Joker as he stood slowly, cutting him with their talons, bashing his body with their weapons, and sending their leader writhing onto the ground with their various elemental spells. Skull and Mona had been the first to charge in despite the chaos, Wind and lightning surging through the pack of monsters but never touching their leader, then Panther’s persona had created a spark that grew into a furious flame engulfing the demons. Queen had screamed at the group then that they had needed to clear a path to him immediately! They needed to hurry if they were going to save their leader!

The three other founding members of the Thieves had stopped then in shock as they heard the commands that were being barked at them, but Queen didn’t pay it any attention, moving onto the next phase of her plan. The young strategist then ordered Panther and Fox to cover her as she summoned Johanna directly underneath her and revved the Persona’s engine. As Fox and Panther took a knelt position on both her sides with fully automatic firearms drawn, she spurred Johanna into action with a single thought. _‘Save him!’_ Johanna roared towards the group of creatures assailing their leader, her leader, her _fake_ boyfriend, her Joker. All while the bullets from the two Thieves’ guns breezed past her body.

The shrieks and cries of the Shadows when the shots ripped through their skin failed to drown out Queen’s vicious battle cry. Pushing Johanna harder than ever as she roared in tandem with her Persona’s engine, she tore through the monsters like they were made of paper. Johanna’s motor seemed to growl more violently with each creature she maimed. When Queen had cleared a path finally, she saw Joker, covered in blood and laying against the tracks of Mementos, his hand stretching out to her while trying to order her to retreat. Queen reacted as quickly as she could, ignoring Joker’s orders, pulling Johanna into a wide circular donut spin around her leader’s broken body, forcing the monsters back and running over those that didn’t heed the danger she presented.

She pushed Johanna to go faster then, forcing her to keep the ring up around Joker while dodging the incoming spells from the Shadows as best she could. She had been lucky that she hadn't taken a direct hit from any of them as swirls of elemental energy nipped at her body, threatening to throw her from Johanna. To fall now would mean certain death for both of them. At this point the remaining Thieves had caught up to the pair and were tearing through the Shadows as quickly as possible. Fox’s persona had frozen a large part of the group, Panther’s then burning them alive. Skull’s lightning had surged through the creatures and arced out around them, nailing any stragglers from the pack of horrible abominations. Mona had taken advantage of his small frame during the battle and made his way into the safe space Queen had created. Mona tried to signal Queen that Joker was going to be fine but Johanna's thunderous roars drowned him out. Mona huffed and began calling upon his own Persona Zorro to heal Ren as best he could then.

After a moment Joker began to rise, Johanna’s engine still revving chaotically as Queen’s temper finally overflowed. Seeing him rise was all she needed in that moment, she was then determined to eliminate every Shadow still standing. With a scream that rivaled her Persona’s engine she cried _‘MAFREILA!’_

The remaining Shadows that still stood after being burned, frozen and electrocuted were instantly engulfed in a blue swirl of nuclear energy. Johanna’s engine revving happily as the spell ripped through Joker’s attackers, tearing their bodies apart in a violent spray of black mist and what looked to be blood. The Shadow’s screams were usually very haunting to Queen, but this was _cathartic_. They had nearly taken something dear from her and she was happy to see them pay for it. 

She had quickly ordered Mona to change into the bus that usually transported them around Mementos, then Skull and Fox to assist Joker into the back seat. Once everyone was inside, she quickly jumped into the driver’s seat and floored the gas pedal, frantically searching the halls for any signs of the escalator leading to the next floor. All the while praying that the next floor would be a safe zone as Oracle started scanning the region for anymore enemies. She was completely drained now, and she didn't think any of the others could handle another fight right now either.

 

* * *

 

 

Queen’s mind played out the scenario, over and over again, the _‘what if’s’_ wracking her brain. It wasn’t until she and Joker had finally rejoined the remaining Thieves in the rest area when she was pulled from her thoughts, her leader’s voice clearing the fog of worry from her mind.

“I made a mistake, and I’d like to apologize.” Joker said carefully, a hand still clutching the vest that covered his ribs. “Thank you, all of you, for saving me.” He added as he shifted his weight onto his right leg and turned towards her. “Especially you.” His eyes fell on Queen. “Queen, without your quick thinking, I probably wouldn’t be here right now.” His eyes were closed behind the white mask, but she could tell he was ruminating in the _‘what if’s’_ as well.

“With that said, it’s time we had a hard discussion… If something were to ever happen to me, I would need to know you all were okay. That you were safe.” Normally Joker didn’t address them this seriously, but today had shown him that he had good reason to do so, the decision he was about to share with his team would change things immensely, and he felt that the conversation should happen sooner rather than later. The rest of the group started to speak over one another, protesting the thought that anything could happen to their leader. This was silenced when Joker raised a hand at them.

“We saw today that anything could happen to any of us in the Metaverse, or Mementos. We all know how dangerous this is, and nobody is out of harm’s way here. Even me.” He lowered his hand. “That’s why if anything should ever happen and I am unable to lead you all…” His voice trailing as he moved to stand beside Queen. “I’d like you to lead the Phantom Thieves in my place. What do you say Queen?” He reached a hand out towards the brunette.

She was stunned beyond belief, he was entrusting his team to her. He _trusted_ her this much? Words were forming in the back of her throat but she found herself unable to speak them immediately. This meant more to her than he probably could've ever imagined. After all, it hadn't been that long ago when she had seemed so hellbent on proving that these people were the infamous group of criminals that had changed Kamoshida's heart. She had been, but not for the reasons that they had initially thought, she had wanted to see _their_ justice, their truth and once she had learned it, she had not only become their ally but their newest member. She slowly reached out and touched his hand, not meaning to do so. She could feel that same electricity again as she slowly ran her fingers over his gloved palm before finally taking his hand in her own.

“Only if necessary.” She spoke smoothly, her voice like silk in Joker's ears, although had they been in the real world it probably would’ve come out as a whine. She found that putting voice to the words had given her a little more confidence as Joker smiled warmly at her. “You’re still our Joker. We need you. So, you better keep your promise to us and _never_ do anything that foolish again!” She finished, squeezing his hand tightly in hers. The young man yelped a little and began sputtering that he would be good and never do that again if she would just let go of his hand, his knees slightly giving out as she squeezed tightly again, their leader needed a reminder that he was human sometimes it seemed. For all that combat prowess he had shown earlier he was remarkably fragile apparently. A few members of the group chuckled softly as Joker squirmed slightly until Queen released his hand. The young man brushed his bangs from his face and rubbed his hand for a moment before bowing slowly towards the young woman, his suave performer's charm making another appearance.

“As you wish Queen.” Joker flashed a smile at her and rose while turning towards the rest of the group. “Any objections?”  
  
“No, Queen proved herself a capable leader today, while I may have more experience in the Metaverse I still didn’t react as quickly as her today.” Mona was the first to speak up. A faint hint of disappointment in his voice, mostly at himself. None of the Thieves could know how much his heart had been hurting recently, since Oracle had taken his position as navigator. He'd been finding more and more flaws in himself lately, and it was eating away at him slowly. No, he didn't feel as if he could lead the Thieves in Joker's place. Not anymore at least.

“Agreed, her strategy to save you was flawless, and that final attack, it has inspired me, Johanna is surely a force to be reckoned with! I have already begun my next piece showing the strength and resolve we witnessed today, it was truly beautiful!” Fox added, a smile crossing his thin lips as he nodded heroically, as if his statement painted the entire escapade in a worthwhile manner. Queen blushed a little at Fox’s praise, recalling the flurry of emotions that had overruled all senses as she charged into the enemies to save Joker.

 “Just don’t work us to death like you do during our study sessions.” Panther smiled happily while holding up her index finger, an audible smidgen of fear in her voice at the mental image of Queen standing heroically while holding a whip and an open textbook that rumbled around in her mind. “I don’t think I can handle that in this world too!” a light chuckle spread among the group as their mood lightened a little at the slight pout on Queen's lips.

“Seriously, you’re a slave driver when it comes to that stuff. If it’s here though, I’m cool with it, you kicked some serious ass today!” Skull rubbed his nape from his seat and the team's chuckles grew into a more comfortable laughter that slowly raised all their spirits. This entire scenario had been a roller coaster of emotions, but it seemed as though the group was recovering quickly despite the heavy undertones of the entire conversation. Queen was about to open her mouth to chastise the two blondes for their lack of respect for their education when he spoke again. “Besides, it makes sense. Seeing as you and Joker are a thing now.” Skull added, gesturing at the two standing Phantom Thieves that were still holding hands in front of them.

“WHAT?!” That stopped all the laughter as the group called out, practically in unison with Queen’s voice being the loudest of them all. Well almost the entire group, Joker was noticeably silent, his eyes finally leaving Queen’s to look at Skull and then back down at his and Queen's hands, still interlocked together in something not quite a handshake anymore. Queen's eyes followed Joker's example and suddenly she jumped back, yanking her hand free of her leader’s grasp. She moved swiftly, getting as far from Joker as she could manage in the tiny safe room. 

“We are most certainly NOT a THING Ryuji!” She barked while moving, knowing she had slipped up there. Mona had warned her about using their real names while on missions but she had accidentally called the thuggish looking young man by his real name and not Skull. Her cheeks were redder now. The thought that one of their friends thought they were actually an item was too much, even for her as Queen. Thankfully though the group of young adults wasn't looking at her at all. Everyone was staring at Skull still, who just shrugged his shoulders and looked blankly at them through his mask. The poor boy looked so lost amidst the confused glares the rest of the team was shooting him.

“What? What’d I say?!” Skull asked curiously, his eyes darting around at the rest of the Thieves as they stared at the young man.

“You’re an idiot…” Panther sighed deeply as she rubbed her forehead softly. Her and the rest of the Thieves had no clue just how right Skull would've been if he'd just waited two more days before saying anything.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to those of you that enjoyed day one. I don't expect to get much attention from these prompts, being a novice writer and all that, I'm simply trying something new! I really appreciate those you of that have given them a chance regardless! This is my piece for day 2 of Shumako Week 2019, I'm glad I can finally share this one with you guys. It's gone through several revisions to fit with the overall storyline this series is building and I feel as if the finished version is a little too long but I'm ready to get it out there!
> 
> They won't be in chronological order for obvious reasons, but they ARE connected. As always feedback/suggestions/criticisms are appreciated.


End file.
